Gluten Peptide Immunomodulatory Strategies. In Biotechnological Strategies for the Treatment of Gluten Intolerance"

Therapeutic vaccines based on the administration of causative antigenic peptides have showed successful results in the desensibilitation of adverse immune reaction in allergic and autoimmune diseases. As the peptide-based immunomodulatory strategy utilizes the immuno-dominant epitopes and is designed to elicit regulatory pathways instead of disease-triggering T cells, it is mandatory the identification of the whole repertoire of pathogenic antigenic peptides. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder caused by a disregulated T cell response to gluten proteins. Recent studies have comprehensively established the gluten peptides responsible of intestinal inflammatory reaction in both children and adults, thus opening realistic prospective for an antigen-based immunomodulatory therapy in celiac disease patients. This review will examine the proof-of-principle and state-of-the-art of gluten peptide vaccine as an immunomodulatory drug to treat gluten intolerance.